United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: Hey, Let’s Release a Traitor! [Pollard]
Source:
WeaponsMan
URL Source: http://weaponsman.com/?p=24068
Published: Jul 22, 2015
Author: Â
Post Date: 2015-07-22 08:35:28 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 3098
Comments: 66
Jonathan Pollard, caught on surveillance video stealing documents. American traitor Jonathan Pollard is closing in on the backstretch of his stint in Federal Prison. “Wait,” you say. “He was sentenced to life in prison!” Well, just like the way the Administration can release a bunch of terrorists from Gitmo to resume their lives of crime, or swap some of them for a traitor, to reward the turncoat, or release another bunch of drug and gun criminals to play Santa Claus in July — all these things really happened, we are not making them up — they can release a traitor and spy if they like. And the word is, that the US Department of Justice will reward the spy for his 1980s betrayal by kicking him out of his long-term rent-controlled apartment in the Crowbar Condiminiums on the 30th Anniversary of his arrest. Pollard must have been a true puzzlement to the Administration. A spy with the simplest motivation of all, greed, he mostly stole things that were no direct use to his Israeli spymasters, but which they could trade for things they needed from other US enemies, like Russia. That was, in fact, what his Mossad handlers directed him to steal. And Pollard’s mercenary motivation was clear for several reasons. First, he admitted it when caught, so that’s a bit of an indicator. Also, Israel wasn’t his first stop. He’d tried two other foreign powers, only to be turned down (the Russians and Chinese both thought he was a really clumsy FBI dangle), before setting his sights on Israel. Since his arrest, he’s rediscovered his previously more or less lapsed Judaism and conned a lot of Israeli society into believing that the mostly Russian-related secrets he stole were Middle Eastern intel that the US was not sharing with Israel out of a lack of trust (gee, we can’t imagine why that might obtain). He has a huge fan club, and an army of lawyers and helpers that have been trying to spring him for decades, and might finally get their wish. One of their complaints has been that Pollard, who’s only 61, is in ill health and is likely to die within months. (Hmmm, last time we heard that it was about a Libyan terrorist that the British government released due to a “imminently terminal” diagnosis… the guy lived for years). He’s being released, not out of humanitarian concerns, as far as we can tell, but because hey, he was a cancer attacking America, a traitor; and that’s something that the whole Beltway can get behind. The Jonathan Pollard of 2015 probably believes himself he was an Israeli patriot, but the Jonathan Pollard of 1985 would have sold the stuff to Hezbollah or Islamic Jihad just as gladly, if they’d had an embassy (give Washington time, they might) and he’d thought they had any money. His supporters argue that he did not deserve life in prison. We agree. What he deserved was what civilized men always understood as The Spy’s Reward. Still does. Of all the claims about Pollard, the most controversial is the one that he spied for money, and not for Jewish/Israeli patriotism. An excellent overview of the Pollard case by the investigator who took his first confession is Capturing Jonathan Pollard by Ronald Olive, and it recounts Pollard’s extensive drug use, grandiose behavior, and attempts to spy for several nations including Australia (! p. 43-44). He also shared extensive classified and codeword information with a CBS reporter, Kurt Lohbeck, and offered Lohbeck a chance to share with him in the profits of selling one classified document to Pakistan (with whose intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, Lohbeck already had a relationship). Lohbeck declined, but he and his editor, Sam Roberts, who discussed Pollard at length, apparently never considered turning Pollard in. After all, they could use the secrets he provided. Azoulay, Orly, and Eichner, Itamar. Reports: US Justice Dept. will not oppose Pollard’s release. YNet News, 19 July 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4681431,00.html Olive, Ronald. Capturing Jonathan Pollard: How One of the Most Notorious Spies in American History Was Brought to Justice. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2013. Shalev, Chemi. Jailed spy Pollard on track for November 21 release – unless something goes wrong. Ha’aretz, Jerusalem. 17 July 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/.premium-1.666604
(1 image) 
Update
Sources
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 49.
#1. To: TooConservative (#0)
Do OUR spies deserve death when captured?
I dunno. That rapidly turns into an argument about situational ethics. I take it you have a strong opinion about it.
I do. God only authorized men to kill men who kill. Spies do not kill. They steal secrets and say what should not be said. To kill a spy is murder, and people who murder other people are thrown by God into Hell. Men can bellow "Our STATE is more important than the life of a sneaking WORM!" And such men are idolators - for they pretend that their emotional service given to an idol of their own hands - their "state", authorizes them to trample the laws of God and ignore God's prohibition of killing men. It does not. Men have no right before God to kill men for spying. None. When they do it, they are murderers and damned to Hell unless they repent. But because they are idolators who believe their states, who have no arms or legs or minds, which are figments of their imagination, made by their own hands, deserve service that supersedes the laws of God, men who kill spies feel justified. They never repent because it makes sense to sacrifice spies to their idols. Whoever executes a spy is a murderer. He has thrown himself into the lake of fire unless he repents. But he will not repent because he is an idolator who worhships his state over God's law. No death for spies.
Not at all. Spies often aid in the murder of others or in acts of war against another country. Being deeply engaged in the missions of foreign spy masters, they are complicit in the many crimes committed against the targeted country, including murders. In Pollard's case, he was weakening U.S. defense with the secrets he was trying to sell to all comers, including an actively hostile USSR. BTW, do you demand the death penalty for our own spies who kill or who are complicit in the deaths of others? Maybe you'd like to take this opportunity to practice some consistency. How do you feel about our soldiers killing anyone in a targeted country in undeclared wars?
I never heard that before.
I never heard that before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard During Pollard's trial, the U.S. government's memorandum in aid of sentencing challenged the "defendant's claim that he was motivated by altruism rather than greed." The government said that Pollard had "disclosed classified information in anticipation of financial gain" in other instances: The government's investigation has revealed that defendant provided to certain of his acquaintances U.S. classified documents which defendant obtained through U.S. Navy sources. The classified documents which defendant disclosed to two such acquaintances, both of whom are professional investment advisers, contained classified economic and political analyses which defendant believed would help his acquaintances render investment advice to their clients... Defendant acknowledged that, although he was not paid for his unauthorized disclosures of classified information to the above-mentioned acquaintances, he hoped to be rewarded ultimately through business opportunities that these individuals could arrange for defendant when he eventually left his position with the U.S. Navy. In fact, defendant was involved in an ongoing business venture with two of these acquaintances at the time he provided the classified information to them...[34] During the course of the Pollard trial, Australian authorities reported the disclosure of classified American documents by Pollard to one of their own agents, a Royal Australian Navy officer who had been engaged in a personnel-exchange naval-liaison program between the U.S. and Australia.[35] The Australian officer, alarmed by Pollard's repeated disclosure to him of data caveated No Foreign Access Allowed, reported the indiscretions to his chain of command. It recalled the officer from his position in the U.S., fearing that the disclosures might be part of a "CIA ruse".[35] Confronted with this accusation after entering his plea, Pollard admitted only to passing a single classified document to the Australian; later, he changed his story, and claimed that his superiors ordered him to share information with the Australians.[35] As of 2014 the full extent of the information Pollard passed to Israel has still not been officially revealed. Press reports cited a secret 46-page memorandum, which Pollard and his attorneys were allowed to view.[36] They were provided to the judge by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who described Pollard's spying as including, among other things, obtaining and copying the latest version of Radio-Signal Notations (RASIN), a 10-volume manual comprehensively detailing America's global electronic surveillance network.[9][37]
Good post. People forget over decades just what a spy like Pollard actually did. For comparison, look at how the .gov dealt with the Walker family spy ring, also back in the Eighties. They got hundreds of years in prison for selling vital operational secrets of our Navy directly to a hostile power, the USSR, over decades. The father and his older brother both already died in prison. The son, who played a minor role, got paroled about 15 years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anthony_Walker Pollard sold info to an allied government (Israel), not to an active enemy power like the Walker family spy ring did. And even the Walkers escaped any death penalty.
Also, we should not lose sight of the fact that Israel denied complicity for years, and the U.S. has never received a full accounting of what was stolen and provided. Over the years, the intel services have been especially vehement that Pollard not be released. I think Pollard is where he belongs. Eligibility for parole does not mean automatic granting of parole. He is only eligible at all because he is grandfathered in. For the past 28 years, policy has been that there is no Federal parole -- everyone does the full time. As a matter of law, that cannot be applied to Pollard as it would effectively make his sentence more severe, ex post facto.
I don't worship Israel like some conservatives tend to do so I am assuming my opinion is one based on me trying to be rational and fair. If Pollard is released on parole via normal means for normal reasons (well behaved in prison, etc) then I would not oppose his release on parole.
Actually, good behavior is only a contributing factor, and not the most significant factor. It is more a factor is eligibility than in granting parole. More significant would be the unlikelihood of committing another offense and a showing of sincere remorse. I do not think release should be considered until there is a full accounting of what was disclosed. http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB407/docs/Pollard%20damage%20assess%20CIA.pdf At PDF page 9 of the DCI Damage Assessment, it shows that the Israeli's asked Pollard to obtain classified information on: When our knowledge of classified Soviet technology is passed on to the Soviets, it endangers the assets who were working for the USA, and any tradecraft that may be revealed. At PDF page 46: At PDF page 48-49: 43. This publicity, which the Pollards apparently hoped would mobilize sympathy and support from the Israeli Government as well as from within the American Jewish community, backfired on both them and on the Israelis. Following a series of delays in sentencinq from 10 September 1986 until 4 March 1987, Judge Aubrey Robinson pronounced sentences of. life imprisonment for Jonathan Pollard and two concurrent five-year terms for Anne Henderson-Pollard. Although his perception of the severity of the espionage offense probably was the chief factor in Judge Robinson's sentencing decision, he likely also took into account the Pollarde' plea-bargain violations. At PDF page 160: http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB407/docs/EBB-PollardDoc6.pdf The Declaration of Caspar Weinberger is harsh toward Pollard. Weinberger Declaration at PDF pages 4-5: Weinberger Declaration at PDF page 17:
#50. To: nolu chan (#49)
That's up to the parole board - I am just stating that it is not that big a deal if this traitor is released if the book is followed. Pollard is a burr in the pro Israel side because for the last 20 years or so (it was not that way before) the myth has developed that Israel and the USA are some kind of partner states - like Israel is almost an American state or colony. A lot has to do with the Evangelical wing of the GOP coupled with a powerful Israeli lobby that has sway with both parties.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestWhat he deserved was what civilized men always understood as The Spy’s Reward.
#3. To: Vicomte13 (#1)
Do OUR spies deserve death when captured?
#4. To: TooConservative (#3)
(Edited)
I dunno. That rapidly turns into an argument about situational ethics. I take it you have a strong opinion about it.
#5. To: Vicomte13 (#4)
Whoever executes a spy is a murderer.
#24. To: TooConservative (#5)
U.S. defense with the secrets he was trying to sell to all comers, including an actively hostile USSR.
#34. To: A K A Stone, TooConservative (#24)
U.S. defense with the secrets he was trying to sell to all comers, including an actively hostile USSR.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) investigator Ronald Olive has alleged that Pollard passed classified information to South Africa,[31] and attempted, through a third party, to sell classified information to Pakistan on multiple occasions.[12] Pollard also stole classified documents related to China on behalf of his wife, who used the information to advance her personal business-interests. She kept these secret materials around the house, where investigating authorities discovered them when Pollard's espionage activity came to light.[11][32][33]
#41. To: nolu chan, A K A Stone, redleghunter, Pericles, Vicomte13 (#34)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard
#43. To: TooConservative, A K A Stone, redleghunter, Pericles, Vicomte13 (#41)
Pollard sold info to an allied government (Israel), not to an active enemy power like the Walker family spy ring did.
#44. To: nolu chan, TooConservative, A K A Stone, redleghunter, Vicomte13 (#43)
#49. To: Pericles (#44)
If Pollard is released on parole via normal means for normal reasons (well behaved in prison, etc) then I would not oppose his release on parole.
--soviet aircraft;
--Soviet air defenses;
--Soviet air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface missiles; Pollard and his wife were arrested by the FBI on the morning of 21 November after a security officer at the Israeli Embassy refused to allow them entry into the building.
42. While his cooperation in debriefings was most helpful to government investigators, Pollard's willingness to grant an interview to journalist Wolf Blitzer for The Jerusalem Post without obtaining advance approval of the resulting text from the Justice Department violated the terms of his plea bargain. In the Blitzer interview, which was held on 20 November 1986 at Petersburg Federal Penitentiary, Pollard provided extensive information on his motives and objectives in conducting espionage for Israel. He also provided Blitzer a general account, with some important examples, of intelligence he passed to the Israelis and emphasized that the Israeli Government must have been aware of and have approved of his activities. The interview, first published in excerpted segments in The Jerusalem Post over several months, was replayed in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Anne Henderson-Pollard followed up with her own commentary on the case in an unauthorized interview on "60 Minutes" on 1 March 1987, just three days before the Pollards were sentenced.
4. A major difference between the Pollard espionage case and others exposed within the past several years, e.g., Walker-Whitworth, Boyce-Lee, Kampiles, Pelton, Prime, and Chin- [large redaction, goes on for pages.]
Ideally, I would detail for the Court all the information passed by the defendant to his Israeli contacts; unfortunately, the volume of data we know to have been passed is too great to permit that. Moreover, the defendant admits to having passed to his Israeli handlers a quantity of documents great enough to occupy a space six feet by six feet by ten feet.
The data provided represents my opinions and conclusions stemming from my review of the data compromised, as well as from information obtained by me in my capacity as secretary of Defense and as a member of the National Secur ity Council. The defendant has substantially harmed the United States, and in my view, his crimes demand severe punishment. Because it may not be clear to the court that the defendant's activities have caused damage of the magnitude realized, I felt it necessary to provide an informed analysis to the Court so that an appropriate sentence could be fashioned. My foregoing comments will, I hope, dispel any presumption that disclosures to an ally are insignificant; to the contrary, substantial and irrevocable damage has been done to this nation. Punishment, of course, must be appropriate to the crime, and in my opinion, no crime is more deserving of severe punishment than conducting espionage activities against one's own country. This is especially true when the individual spy has voluntarily assumed the responsiblity of protecting the nation's secrets. The defendant, of course, had full knowledge and understanding of the sensitivities of the information unlawfully disclosed. To demonstrate that knowledge, I have attached copies of non-disclosure agreements which he voluntarily executed.
Replies to Comment # 49. I do not think release should be considered until there is a full accounting of what was disclosed.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 49.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]